


I Get By With a Little Help

by anniebibananie



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Theon/Sansa, Best Friends, F/M, Friend groups, Idiots with Feelings, Mutual Pining, Pining, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-15 23:45:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19306291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anniebibananie/pseuds/anniebibananie
Summary: Arya and Gendry are each other’s person, which means they’re basically the first one called when the other is in trouble. Their friends may or may not take advantage of that.or: One time Arya helps Gendry, one time Gendry helps Arya, and the one time their friends try to help them.





	I Get By With a Little Help

**Author's Note:**

> a/n: for @forge-heat second place winner of my fanfiction giveaway. this was so fun to do, so i really hope you enjoy it!!

The phone to Arya’s left buzzed, vibrating against the leather of the couch until it had slipped next to her thigh. It buzzed some more. And just kept buzzing.

“Are you going to answer that?” Meera asked to her right, voice mostly distracted.

“And let you win?” Arya held the game controller tighter in her hands, leaning forward as an alien appeared in front of her on screen. It was a weird video game, one Bran had recommended to them, and since they’d given in and played it the first time they’d found it difficult to stop.

With her eyes trained on the screen in front of her, Arya couldn’t look to see, but she knew Meera had to be moving her fingers quick and sharp because the clicking sound of her controller keys coming from beside her was sort of unreal.

The alien ate Arya. She tried not to pout as the Game Over screen flashed.

“Guess you don’t have to worry about that,” Meera said as she dropped the controller and looked over at her. “Shireen! Come back out… where’d you go?”

She appeared from down the hallway, a book open in her palms as she walked over and fell into the couch to Arya’s left. “There were too many alien screams,” she said. “I couldn’t finish my chapter.”

“It’s Friday,” Arya told her. “You’re allowed to not finish your book.”

She looked up and shook her head, narrowing her eyes in disbelief for even suggesting the thought. “This is a _good_ book, plus I have to meet your brothers tomorrow for book club. If I don’t finish I’ll be the talk of the club.”

“The talk of your… three person book club,” Meera spoke, slowly as if trying to gauge if she was being serious, “that is filled with only you and our brothers.”

She nodded once, sharp. “Jojen and Bran can be quite chatty. Gossips, really.”

As Arya laughed her phone began to buzz again, now sandwiched between her and Shireen’s legs. Shireen picked it up and held it out to her, her brows coming together in a look of curiosity.

“Arya, Gendry has called you seven times.” She tilted her head to the side. “Don’t you think you better pick it up?”

“Is he booty calling you?” Meera asked with a laugh.

“It’s still early-ish that would be a sad booty call.” Arya grabbed the phone just as the call must have went to voicemail. She slid her screen open to find a string of texts as well that were growing… more pathetic as time went on. They were sort of cute, actually, not that she would ever tell him that. She sighed. “I should call him back.”

She stood up as she hit call, and it only rang once before he picked up. The sound from the other end was filled with voices in the background though not too loud. Arya assumed they were probably at some apartment.

“Arya!” he yelled, and there was a rush of laughter and someone shushing him. “Hi.”

“Having a good night, are we?” she asked as she walked into the kitchen, suddenly feeling a bit peckish. She opened the refrigerator to find it pathetically empty.

“I— Why aren’t you here?”

She laughed but tried to dull the sound of it so it didn’t come off too harsh. The way he’d said it, she could practically hear a pout in his voice. There were a few versions of Drunk Gendry, most of them she knew quite well, and right now he was stuck in petulant. It would fade to soft soon enough, and she would be left with her heart feeling uncomfortably warm.

“I’m at _my_ apartment with _my_ friends.” In this stage of Gendry’s drunkenness, she usually ended up feeling as if she was lecturing a child. Luckily, it was one of the quickest phases.

“But _I’m_ not there.”

“Gendry, who are you talking to?” she heard someone say in the background, and Arya wasn’t sure but she thought it might have been her sister. _Ah,_ she thought, _they’re at Theon’s._

“Sansa! It’s none of you—”

“Gendry, hand it over right now.”

“It’s your _sister_ , I—”

“Hand it!” she repeated.

Arya listened in amusement, trying to keep her laughter to a minimum. She hopped up onto her counter, snacking on some stale chips that were starting to make her too sad to eat. She just wanted _food,_ and it was clearly her fault that she couldn’t be a functioning adult and grocery shop like she needed to, but she still wasn’t _happy_ about it.

“Hi Sansa,” Arya said after the scuffle on the other end of the line seemingly came to a halt. Her sister breathed heavily over the line, and Arya wondered how exactly she had muscled the phone from his grasp.

“Oh my god, he’s _unruly._ ”

“How did you get stuck with a bunch of drunk boys?” Arya asked. Maybe she should just bite the bullet and order pizza. Meera and Shireen would be in, right?

“I come back to _my_ apartment that I share with _my_ boyfriend, thinking I was going to get laid and then take a pleasurable bath—”

“ _Nice.”_

“But unfortunately none of that came to fruition because I’m trying to kick out a slew of drunken boys.”

“How’d they get so drunk?”

Sansa sighed. “Apparently, from what I could get out of Theon between him telling me how much he loved me and how pretty I was, they played a drinking game to The Fast and The Furious and it got out of hand.”

“Wow.” Arya whistled.

“I know.”

“So, can you come get him?”

“What?” Arya asked. She jumped off the counter and went to the door, leaning against the doorway as she watched Shireen and Meera talking about something in a calm, dulcet tone. How different from whatever was happening at Theon and Sansa’s apartment.

“Theon! You can’t— Oh my god, Pod deal with this.”

The phone sounded like it had been dropped on the ground or maybe thrown to someone else. Arya couldn’t be quite sure.

“Um, hi. Arya?”

“Yes Pod?”

Meera and Shireen shared a confused look across from her, and Arya shrugged in reply.

“Hi, yeah, so um… could you come pick him up?”

“I’m not his mother,” Arya said.

“But like… you’re his person, you know? And, shit, I’m too drunk to be making any sense. He’s sitting on the floor right now. You should come. Wait, Sansa _don’t_ —”

The phone went dead. Arya sighed. Meera and Shireen looked at her, clearly waiting for some sort of explanation as to what was going on.

“The boys are very drunk.”

Meera nodded. “Okay. And you need to go pick Gendry up?”

“Why does everyone say that? I’m not his keeper!” Arya exclaimed, but she was already walking to the door to slip into her shoes and grab her keys.

“Have fuuuuun,” Shireen sing-songed as Arya left.

What could _possibly_ be fun about hauling Gendry’s drunk ass anywhere?

*

By the time she got to Theon and Sansa’s place it seemed like most of everything had calmed down, though Gendry was passed out on the couch.

Theon and Sansa were sitting on the chair together, Sansa in Theon’s lap, his arms around her waist. Theon looked about to pass out, too. Sansa just looked tired, but she gave a happy smile when Arya walked through the door.

“Finally,” Sansa said with a sigh. “Please take him home? So, I can go to bed?”

“So _we_ can go to bed,” Theon said. Sansa rolled her eyes.

“Come on,” Arya said, stepping over to Gendry. He didn’t move. She shook him again, and he opened a single eye. When he saw it was her, he smiled. “Let’s _go._ ”

He let himself be pulled up, and then once he was on his feet he leaned into her. He was way too big to lean his full weight on her, and she still thought this was probably too much, but she was sort of used to hauling his weight around in times of strife at this point.

“Have a good night, Sansa. You can have… whatever kind of night you want, Theon.” She tried to wave over her shoulder, aware it didn’t quite work because she quickly had to move her hand back to help her stabilize Gendry.

She was surprised he was quiet as they walked down the hall to the elevator. Arya had expected more noise, but it seemed exhaustion was covering him more than anything else. When they got in the elevator he moved from her side to the wall for balance.

He leaned back against it, looking larger than normal in the confined space. “I’m tired.”

“I know.”

He groaned. “I’m going to have the shittiest hangover in the morning.”

She gave him a smile filled with pity. “I know.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her, staring for long enough she started to shift back and forth between her feet. It wasn’t that Arya wasn’t used to Gendry staring at her, it was just usually when he did it there was a reason—she was mocking him or had said something stupid, maybe. When he looked at her like _this_ , sort of soft, she felt like he was seeing right into her.

She had no idea what he saw in there.

“You’re amazing. You know that, right?”

She smiled and felt her heart jolt with the words. “Is that so?”

He nodded, solemn. The elevator door opened, and he held out his hand to her. Her eyebrows scrunched together, and she was aware this was… definitely drunk and soft Gendry leading this, but she took it anyways. Anything to get him closer to getting home, and her getting back to her own bed.

Arya shuffled the pair of them down the sidewalk, his hand warm in hers, and when she got to her truck she was forced to basically shove him into the passenger seat. She buckled him in, having to elbow him because he started petting her hair like the actual creep he was, and _finally_ she was able to sneak to the driver’s side and get them going.

It was a quick drive back to his apartment, and luckily he dozed off with the soft music and warmth of the car. She hummed underneath her breath, trying to keep herself alert the whole while. When they got to his apartment, she was glad she had already grabbed his keys from his coat pocket earlier because he seemed even more exhausted crawling up the stairs.

“You’re like a giant baby,” she complained as they pushed through his front door.

He ripped off his coat and kicked off his shoes then sighed. Loud and pretty dramatic. “Can you… just help me to my bed?”

“Gendry,” Arya said, voice stern. “You know where your bed is. You cannot possibly be _that_ inebriated.”

He pouted, giving her puppy dog eyes. “I just… want you to take me there, please.”

“I hate you.” She held out her hand again, and he beamed as he took it and let himself be dragged down the hall.

He didn’t bother stripping anymore of his clothes off before falling into bed, and she tried to think what Sansa would do in a situation like this. Arya found his comforter balled at the end of the bed, and she pulled it up to cover him.

“There,” she said, nodding with satisfaction. “Don’t, like, choke on vomit in your sleep or something, okay? You’d die, and I’d have to find a new best friend. Major bummer.”

He shifted under the blanket, and then he was looking up at her with wide eyes. “You can’t _leave._ ”

She spoke slowly, hoping the words would soak in better that way. “I want to go to bed.”

“I’m in a bed,” he said.

“That is a fact. I didn’t realize we were both just saying facts now.”

“You could also be in this bed.”

“Oh.” She paused looking at his open, earnest face and the fact that it was hitting her chest too hard tonight. “I…”

“Please?” he asked. His eyes were already closing again, as if he was too exhausted to hold them open. “It’s just nicer when you’re here.”

She hated all their friends for making her come pick him up and, consequently, put her in this situation. How could she possibly say no to that? Almost angrily, she was kicking off her shoes and pulling off her sweatshirt to slip into bed next to him.

“If you start trying to cuddle me, I swear…”

He huddled closer into the sheets with nothing but contentment on his features. “You’re so cute.”

“Oh my fucking— Gendry, I will _murder_ you.”

He sighed, his voice already drifting as he fell asleep. “I know. It’s so cute.”

“Gendry Waters.”

Then, he snored. Arya was left looking at his face peaceful in sleep. Even weary from exhaustion and the long day followed by extreme drinking, he was sharp and handsome in a way that sometimes surprised her still. He didn’t act like a handsome person, not like the annoying boys Sansa used to date who were pretty but nothing else. It was like he didn’t notice, and that somehow made him _more_ handsome.

Goddamn Gendry. She wished he’d never been _nice_ and _funny_ and made her like him more than a friend. Everything would have been a lot easier than _this._

*

**GENDRY WATERS**

 

 **Gendry:** What… did I say last night?

…

pls just tell me so I can stop thinking about it

 

 **Arya:** I wouldn’t know I didn’t see you.

 

 **Gendry:** I know that's a lie because 1. I did not completely blackout, I remember being in your car

2\. you left me aspirin because your cold, dead heart LOVES me

3\. pod texted me ‘did arya murder you last night because you disappeared on find my friends’

Sidenote: do we think pod knows that find my friends isn’t actually locating your FRIENDS but your phone? I’m suddenly unsure.

 

 **Arya:** How do you have the energy to message me that. You should be dead in a ditch you were so drunk

 

 **Gendry:** But I DIDN’T because you saved me. my knight *sword emoji**double heart emoji*

 

 **Arya:** Are you on your laptop?? Is that why you’re texting me…spelled out emojis… instead of … the emojis

 

 **Gendry:** My phone is so far cause you plugged it into my charger before leaving cause AGAIN you love me for some odd reason and ALSO my brain literally can’t strain to look through the emojis

 

 **Arya:** That makes no sense! You’re straining to look at text!

 

 **Gendry:** Please just put me out of my misery and tell me what I SAID last night or just … put me out of my misery

 

 **Arya:** Hmmmmmmmmmmm

 

 **Gendry:** Arya I will BLACKMAIL YOU

 

 **Arya:** dude you have zero of the upper hand here did you forget

 

**KINDA FRIENDS**

 

_Arya changed the group name to “gendry can’t use a fork”_

 

 **Arya:** guys remember when gendry said he wasn’t sure he knew how to use a fork

 

 **Gendry:** This is cyberbullying.

 

 **Robb:** What did you do last night drunk to make my sister mad?

(I will never forget Gendry not knowing how to use a fork, I have the video of him staring at it high trying to pick up his Spaghetti for five minutes)

 

 **Gendry:** I was told that video was deleted the hits keep coming

 

 **Theon:** And they don’t stop coming and they don’t stop coming and they don’t-

 

 **Sansa:** I swear Theon if you don’t turn your phone on silent I will get Arya to kill you

 

 **Pod:** Ew. Keep sexy texts to yourself, my young eyes

 

 **Sansa:**...how…. Is that…. Sexy??

 

 **Pod:** you’re in a BED together, unwed. Hussies, all of you

 

 **Margaery:** Podrick… big talk coming from someone who I heard quite *ahem* looovely things about from my coworker. Very BIG and GENEROUS things.

 

 **Theon:** Are you saying Podrick has a big dick? I’m too hungover for subtlety.

 

 **Arya:** CAN WE GET BACK ON TOPIC OR

 

 **Sansa:** Theon I will kick you out of this bed put your phone on silent.

 

 **Arya:** doesn’t anyone want to know the GOSSIP of what gendry said to me last night??

 

 **Gendry:** Me. But not in this group message.

 

 **Robb:** I can’t imagine it’s any worse than what he already said to all of us about you drunk in Theon’s apartment.

 

 **Sansa:** *sansa’s apartment

 

 **Gendry:** ha HA upper hand is mine again

 

 **Theon:** dude if you’d heard what you said last night you’d realize there is no upper hand to be had

 

 **Pod:** Wait did Melissa really say those things about me Marg?  

 

 **Gendry:** ha HA pls no one expose me in this group message

 

 **Robb:** _Robb sent a mp4_

 

 **Gendry:** …. sigh ….

 

 **Margaery:** Oh baby did she ever.

 

 **Sansa:** THEON I WANT A DIVORCE.

 

 **Meera:** You guys aren’t even married. Go to bed the lot of you it’s way too early to deal with any of you.

 

 **Shireen:** ^^^^

 *

**GENDRY WATERS**

 

 **Arya:** I will not expose you today I guess.

 

 **Gendry:** It’s because no one cared, isn’t it?

 

 **Arya:** No comment.

 

 **Gendry:** hehehehhehehe

 

 **Arya:** big giggles for a man who kept talking about how cute i was last night… kept asking to hold my HAND made me sleep oVER

 

 **Gendry:** … now i just wonder what I told the boys.

 

* * *

 

Gendry was sitting on his couch and _trying_ to figure out a way to tell Arya he wanted to kiss her without her punching him immediately afterward, so pretty much the same thing he did everyday, when the phone rang.

He’d left it in the kitchen when he was making lunch, so he had to hop up to go get it. His brows scrunched together when he noticed his cousin calling, not an entirely _unusual_ occurrence, but certainly not normal, either.

“Shireen?” he asked.

“Oh, hi,” she began as if she hadn’t really expected him to be on the other end of the call. “ _Meera_ ,” she hissed, her hand probably covering the speaker with the way it was muffled but not enough to stop him from hearing it. “So, here’s the thing.”

“What’s the thing?” Gendry asked, anticipation building in his chest.

“Don’t freak out, it’s not a big deal, but Arya got hurt.”

“Is she okay? Where are you guys?” He was already stepping toward the door, ready to get his keys.

“We’re in the Emergency Room, and—”

“Fuck, is she okay? What happened? I don’t—”

The phone was apparently ripped from Shireen’s hand because the next voice Gendry heard was Meera’s.

“Hey. Shireen is freaking you out for no reason, but Arya broke her arm. I have to go pick my dad up from the airport, though, so she’ll be stranded without a car. Can you come get her?”

“She’s okay, though?”

“A little drugged up, maybe, but definitely okay. Shireen will stay until you get here, and you can drop Shireen off at work? Please? Then take Arya home and watch after her while she comes down?”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll be there in twenty.”

“Perfect, thank you so much. Arya!” The phone went dead.

Gendry drove a little more hurried than he normally would, but he thought it was understandable given the circumstances. He knew it was only a broken arm, and Meera had assured him she was fine, but he was nervous all the same. Arya didn’t like to admit when she was in pain, and it made it hard when she was sick or hurt for him to be able to help her.

He hadn’t even thought about why they called _him_ until he was there. It made sense, he guessed. They were each other’s person, whether you defined that as best friends or something else. Gendry _wished_ it was something else, but he also didn’t. He wanted Arya in whatever way she was willing to give him because life without Arya was sort of unimaginable, and he had a growing fear that she _didn’t_ want anything else. Which was fine, totally fine.

Shireen and Arya were sitting in the waiting room when he rushed in, and seeing Arya in front of him whole and seemingly okay was enough to have him releasing a whoosh of breath.

“You came,” she said, giving him a smile that definitely had at least _something_ to do with the drugs coursing through her system.

“How are we doing?” he asked, helping guide her up to a standing position. He directed the question to Arya first before turning to Shireen and raising a brow.

“We’re okay, right Arya?” she prompted as they walked together, all three of them, out of the hospital. “Would you like to tell Gendry how this happened?”

“Fuck no.”

Shireen sighed. Gendry laughed.

“Where’s your car?” she asked, whipping her head back and forth to scan the parking lot.

“What version of Arya exactly have we been dealing with?” Gendry asked Shireen over Arya’s head.

“Well…”

“I can _hear_ you,” she mumbled, still clutching onto Gendry’s arm as they walked through the parking lot toward his car.

“A little extra aggressive, perhaps? But in a super harmless way.”

They got to the side of the car, and Gendry had to pull his arm out of Arya’s grasp, _carefully_ though because she was hurt and he had no intention of hurting her _more,_ to get her into the backseat. It must have been the pain meds and the cast in combination that made it hard for her to buckle in, and he bent down to clip her into her seat.

“You have to be dropped off at the bookstore?” Gendry asked when he was back up to full height and had closed the backdoor.

Shireen nodded, watching Arya through the window as she dutifully waited for both of them to get into the car. “I think she’s feeling… well, a little _vulnerable_ perhaps? You know how she gets when she’s hurt.”

He sighed. “Yeah.”

“So, just a head’s up on that. Also…”

“What?”

She bit down a smile and pushed the hair behind her ears. “Do you want to know how it happened?”

“Is it embarrassing?” he asked.

She nodded, the smile widening. Shireen was pretty much the only person he shared blood with he could stand, and it mostly came down to the fact that she was kinda like sunshine. When she smiled like that, he was easily reminded of it.

His own smiled spread. “Then absolutely.”

“Arya said she could jump up and grab the fire escape ladder like they do in the movies.”

He winced. “Oh no.”

Shireen cringed, nodding. “Oh yes. Then Meera bet her she couldn’t.”

“Oh _no._ ”

“She jumped from the nearby dumpster, and she was able to grab it but it didn’t budge and then she slipped. Honestly it was _so_ close to cool.”

Gendry laughed before feeling sort of bad because Arya looked a little miserable in the back of his car. “I’m going to tease her mercilessly later, but after she’s slept off the pain a little.”

Shireen clapped his back. “You’re a good friend.”

He sighed, watching her through the window for a beat, before going to the driver’s side. _Friend._

*

“You want pizza?” he called from the kitchen as he searched through his drawers for a sharpie.

“I’m not actually incapable of moving or cooking right now. You know that, right?” A beat. “But yeah. Extra cheese.”

“Obviously,” he whispered underneath his breath, rolling his eyes. He _knew_ her. Coming up victorious with a black _and_ a blue sharpie, he went back into the living room after making a quick call for the pizza.

She was sprawled on her couch, still seeming a little sleepy from her meds and the exhaustion of going to the hospital, he assumed. He wiggled in on the edge, helping her prop up enough to get her head on his lap.

“It doesn’t even hurt that much.” She sighed. “I just feel so out of it.”

“You’ll probably need a good, long sleep.”

She hummed. There was something sort of vulnerable, sort of innocent, with her on the couch laid out like this. Her face looked more open, somehow. He reached out for her casted arm, and she lifted it up toward him above her head.

“Whatcha gonna draw?” she asked.

“Lots of dicks.”

“Fitting. You know what they say… you are what you draw.”

He laughed. “Not the saying.”

She looked up at him, and he stopped eyeing her cast to look back at her. Feeling sort of soft, and because he thought she was vulnerable enough to welcome it, he pet a hand over her hair.

“You doing okay? Actually?” he asked quietly, as to not scare her away.

She nodded. “Thanks for caring.”

“I’ll always care.” His hand was still on the crown of her head, and he would have gladly left it there but he had a feeling she would only allow it for a little bit longer. “What do _you_ want me to draw?”

“Me fighting off aliens.”

He smiled, finally lifting his hand off her head after a little scratch. “Whatever my lady commands.”

*

**gendry can’t use a fork**

 

_Meera changed the group name to ‘arya isn’t spiderman’_

 

 **Meera:** For those who don’t know, Arya Stark is the dumbest person I know who I also fully believe could pull off my murder without getting caught

 

 **Arya:** I never claimed to be spiderman folks

 

 **Shireen:** Arya before attempting to grab the fire escape ladder by jumping from the dumpster: Eat your ass out spiderman

 

 **Sansa:** You do know… that's not the saying, right Arya?

 

 **Gendry:** Let’s focus on the most important first. I got prime real estate on this cast, and I am EXCITED to do some damage

 

 **Robb:** That sounds so menacing.

 

 **Jon:** Please don’t break Arya more. She’s fragile.

 

 **Arya:** I AM NOT FRAGILE.

 

 **Jon:** The evidence doesn’t lie, Arya. You’re not spiderman

 

 **Arya:** You know what… Spiderman can still eat his ass out I’m better than him

 

 **Sansa:** Still not the saying!! Actually a very disturbing mis-wording of the saying!!!

 *

**ARYA STARK**

 

 **Gendry:** Hey, just know if you need me for anything I’m here, okay?

I promise I’ll even keep the teasing to a minimum.

 

 **Arya:** thanks.

but also i know you won’t

 

 **Gendry:** I love how well you know me <3

 

 **Arya:** I hate that you don’t use emojis like a normal person!!!!

 

 **Gendry** : <3

 

* * *

 

_Meera Reed created the group Scheming not Stunting_

 

 **Meera:** I have brought you all here today for a purpose.

 

 **Theon:** I don’t understand why we can’t do both but ok

 

 **Shireen:** Please don’t speak. Peasants listen to my queen.

 

 **Sansa:** I love when Shireen gets regal and bossy.

 

 **Theon:** >: (

 

 **Robb:** we have way too many group messages

 

 **Meera:** You guys are such major fucking bummers

 

 **Margaery:** I am listening, darling

 

 **Meera:** Thank you!!!! ;)

Okay, I just came home to Gendry and Arya cuddling on the couch asleep so like I’m pretty sure it’s time we do something about this

 

 **Sansa:** yay! kisses for everyone

 

 **Pod:** when will pod get kisses again?

 

 **Robb:** I’m sure when he stops referring to himself in third person probably.

 

_Jon Snow left this conversation._

 

_Robb Stark added Jon Snow to this conversation._

 

 **Robb:** sorry bud no escaping

 

 **Jon:** sigh

 

 **Meera:** I would like to enact a plan! Please!!

 *

**arya isn’t spiderman**

 

 **Meera:** Arya! You have a date tomorrow night!

 

 **Arya:** Um… no I don’t?

 

 **Meera:** You do now!

 

 **Gendry:** Why are you mentioning this in the group message?

 

 **Meera:** I needed witnesses so she couldn’t back out.

 

 **Gendry:** Arya and I had plans

 

 **Robb:** Don’t worry man I set something up for you

 

 **Margaery:** You two are sad, gotta get you out there

 

 **Pod:** You guys will have (haha i am so lonely) so much fun!!!

 

 **Margaery:** Call Melissa she would be _more_ than happyto keep you company

 

 **Theon:** Literally how big is Pod’s dick, tho

 

 **Sansa:** I can help with your hair if you want, Arya!

 

 **Arya:**...what’s wrong with my hair???

*

Arya was about to be really pissed with Meera because she could have been at _home_ watching television and eating leftover pizza with Gendry, but here she was waiting for a date that was nowhere to be seen. Though, she guessed maybe it would have been sort of sad since Gendry would have been on his _own_ date.

As if thinking about him was enough to make him appear, Gendry seemed to materialize in front of her looking dressed up and sort of sheepish.

Arya’s brows crashed together. “Where’s your date?”

“I think… you are it,” he said slowly.

“What do you mean?” She was wearing her _nice_ jeans. She had _shaved_ her legs. All for this to be some weird prank? Honestly, she was going to _kill_ Meera.

“Robb told me my date would be in the back corner wearing a green top.”

Arya looked down at the green silk shirt Sansa had helped her pick out. “Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well.” She motioned to the empty seat in front of her, not bothering at _all_ to notice that Gendry looked all sorts of hot in his button-up shirt and slacks. “I don’t get why they thought this would be funny.”

Gendry sighed, reaching forward to his water cup and taking a sip. “Yeah, I don’t…” He paused, looking down at his lap. “Honestly, I’m kinda pissed right now.”

“At me?” Why were her palms slick? This was too much pressure.

“At this whole situation.” Finally, he looked up at her. For a second, she couldn’t look away the same way you couldn’t look away from a car crash. There was so much riding on this moment, it seemed, and he was looking intensely serious in a way they rarely were together. “I’ve liked you for a long time, Arya.”

The words seemed to hit her from all sides, and her breath quickened. Could this possibly be real? “We’ve been friends forever,” she replied, scared of revealing her own thoughts on this situation for it to be a continuation of a prank or a joke or… she didn’t know, she was frazzled, okay?

He rolled his eyes. “Like a more than friends thing.”

“Oh,” she said, the thought taking a beat too long to creep in for some reason. This was real. Really real. Exactly what she had hoped for but never thought would happen real.. _“Oh.”_

“Yeah.” He ran a hand down his face, looking vulnerable and exhausted.

What a long week the two of them had been through helping each other and now… sort of being helped by their friends? Arya was still sort of mad about the whole thing, too. If they were going to plan some sort of _scheme_ they could have at least put more effort into it. He looked more anxious across from her, and she remembered she hadn’t actually said anything helpful, yet.

She stood up from her seat, the chair screeching against the hardwood floor. “I’m going to go,” she said. He looked up at her sort of sad. “You going to come with, or…” She trailed off, holding out her hand to him.

His lips twitched at the edges, but it seemed almost as if he was still scared to let himself smile fully. “You can use your words better than that, Arya.”

She smirked. “My cast makes things a little difficult, but I’m _pretty_ sure we can still have sex in the back of my truck if we’re careful.”

“You don’t want to just drive back to one of our apartments? I thought adults didn’t have to have car sex anymore.” His smile took over his face, and he shook his head as he laughed. “And the feelings bit of it? It sort of matters to me.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’ve been waiting to fuck for years. I don’t really feel like driving all the way back to one of our apartments.” She breathed in deep, and when she let it all out she looked back at him, trying to convey with more than her words that she _meant this._ “And for the feelings bit? Gendry… I really like you, too.”

“Good.” He nodded, interlacing his hand with hers. “Then to the back of your truck we go.”

 *

**arya isn’t spiderman**

 

 **Gendry:** Sorry guys, it's just too hard to be in this group right now.

 

_Gendry Waters left the group message._

 

 **Robb:** Um…

 

 **Margaery:** Seconded?

 

 **Theon:** ^^^

 

 **Arya:** gendry is a piece of shit! A wet piece of shit! good riddance

 

_Arya changed the group name to ‘anti-gendry waters group’_

 

 **Robb:** UM…

 

 **Margaery:** Again. Seconded.

 

 **Theon:** ^^^

 

 **Arya:** Maybe next time you guys should just stay out of it?? I can’t fucking stand him right now, UGH

the fucking audacity

 

 **Sansa:** This is a joke, right?

 

 **Arya: I** s my emotional well-being a JOKE to you?

 

 **Sansa:** Wait, is this real??

Call me?

*

“How long do you think we should play at this before people get genuinely worried?” Arya asked.

He reached out a hand on the bed next to her, and she handed him a licorice whip from her bag. As he bit into it he shrugged. Then he reached out his hands again to pull her closer. Arya laughed, pushing him away, before rolling over and onto his stomach. As soon as she was in place, he held her there.

“Seems like your sister might already be genuinely worried,” he offered.

“I’m not too concerned with it,” she said as she smiled down at him. She bent forward and kissed him, taking her time. They had time now, and the thought of it made her feel sort of giddy. “I’ve got a hot boy in my bed.”

He gasped. “Arya Stark. Do you think I’m _hot?_ ”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Duh. Obviously. What, did you think I liked you for your mind? Your personality?” She scoffed. “Unlikely.”

“Rude!” he exclaimed. “I think we should break up.”

“Boo.” She pushed herself up from his chest, now straddling his waist. Her smile turned mischievous. “You sure you want to do that?” She dipped closer and kissed her way up his neck. “I mean…”

“No, never leave me.” He pushed his hands into her hair, tugging her face forward to plant a kiss on her lips.

She smiled as she plopped back down onto his chest, laughing at the way the air escaped his lungs in a puff. “Okay.”

 *

**anti-gendry waters group**

 

_Meera changed the group name to ‘they’re totally banging’_

 

 **Meera:** Hi friends, colleagues, general acquaintances. Don’t fret.

Gendry is currently in Arya’s room, so I’m pretty sure they’re just fucking with you (and fucking each other)

 

 **Sansa:** Oh! Sweet.

 

 **Pod:** Ew! 💕

 

 **Theon:** 💕💕

 

 **Shireen:** True love prevails!

My queen is a genius.

 

_Arya added Gendry Waters to the conversation._

 

_Arya changed the group name to ‘you’re all the worst but thanks ig’_

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at: [anniebibananie](http://anniebibananie.tumblr.com/)


End file.
